


Hope

by fleurofthecourt



Series: Codas, Tags, and Missing Scenes -- Supernatural [10]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Episode: s13e05 Advanced Thanatology, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 06:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12698994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurofthecourt/pseuds/fleurofthecourt
Summary: The line rings and Cas feels so human.





	Hope

Cas’ hand lingers over the phone before he slowly pulls it out of its cradle. 

This is it. 

This is what he’s been trying to do for two days, after traveling across seemingly endless trees — the Empty had let him go, but he certainly hadn’t intended to be helpful about it. 

He lifts the change that he found in the cup holder of an unlocked car and his hand shakes slightly. 

What if Dean doesn’t answer? What if he doesn’t believe him? What if ...

What does he even say? 

The line rings and Cas feels so human. 

Hope and fear and anxiety and longing fill him completely. 

Dean’s voice on the other end only increases those feelings. 

He fumbles for a moment, still unsure. “Dean...” 

There’s a barely perceptible intake of breath on the other line. 

He hears the Impala rumble, and he hears Sam mumbling.

And, God, he wants to go home. 

“...um, I’m alive. I don’t know how I’m alive. I was in The Empty, and I woke up. I don’t how. I don’t why. But... you, you need me, and I need you.” 

There’s a long pause...so long that Cas is afraid Dean hung up. 

He babbles to fill the overwhelming silence. 

“I don’t have a phone or a car or money; this is a pay phone in Des Moines. On Grove Ave... I can steal a car or hitchhike if you’re hunting...”

Then, he hears Sam. 

“What the hell, Dean? Why are you gunning it? Aren’t we going to the bunker?”

“Yeah, um, we’ve got somewhere we need to go first.” 

He can hear the hope and the doubt warring in Dean’s voice. 

“Who the hell is that, Dean?”

Dean doesn’t answer, and he doesn’t hang up. 

Cas understands. He needs to see to believe. 

He can wait. 

XXX 

And he does. 

Dean never hangs up. 

He looks at him like he’s a mirage before tentatively coming closer. “Cas...is it really you?” 

“Yes. You can do whatever you need to do to prove that.” 

Dean shakes his head. “Nah, I need this. I need this like you wouldn’t believe.” 

“Dean...” Sam’s voice is cautioning, suspicious. 

But Dean’s arms are already around him. It feels like he has no intention of letting go. Cas hopes he doesn’t. He tries to grip Dean back just as tightly.

There are tears staining the shoulders of his trench coat now and Dean is choking on his words, “Don’t you ever... don’t you ever do that again, you hear me, Cas?” 

Cas grips him tighter. “I have no intention of doing it again.” 

Sam stands across from them, holding a bottle of holy water and a silver knife, looking at them like he’s never seen them properly before.


End file.
